Workload, stress, and strain among police officers.

Data relevant to stress and strain were analyzed separately for police officers with high and low workloads. Although these groups of officers were not found to differ in demographic characteristics or on overall levels of stress and strain, the sources of stress and strain were remarkably different. For the low workload officer, the sources of stress and strain appear to be difficulties in interpersonal relations with peers, community, and especially with supervisors. These difficulties appear to be mediated by effects on self-evaluation. The sources of stress and strain among high workload officers appear to be stress-producing events in their lives in general, as well as in performing the job of patrol officer and in dealing with crime and related matters. The differences between high and low workload officers can be explained by social comparison theory, by identity theory, or by Selye's stress theory.

[1]  T. Wills,et al.  Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. , 1985, Psychological bulletin.

[2]  D. Montaño,et al.  Validity and reliability of the family APGAR as a test of family function. , 1982, The Journal of family practice.

[3]  T. Cooper.  Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. , 1976, Military medicine.

[4]  D. Mayfield,et al.  The CAGE questionnaire: validation of a new alcoholism screening instrument. , 1974, The American journal of psychiatry.

[5]  M. Rokeach.  The Nature Of Human Values , 1974 .

[6]  T. H. Holmes,et al.  The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. , 1967, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[7]  J. Abramson.  The cornell medical index as an epidemiological tool. , 1966, American journal of public health and the nation's health.

[8]  M. Rosenberg.  Society and the adolescent self-image , 1966 .

[9]  R. Likert,et al.  New Patterns of Management. , 1963 .

[10]  M. Hamilton,et al.  Relation of C.M.I. responses to some social and psychological factors. , 1962, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[11]  H. Selye.  The Stress of Life , 1958 .

[12]  L. Festinger.  A Theory of Social Comparison Processes , 1954 .

[13]  K. Brodman,et al.  The Cornell Medical Index-Health Questionnaire. III. The evaluation of emotional disturbances. , 1952, Journal of clinical psychology.

[14]  K. Brodman,et al.  The Cornell Medical Index-Health Questionnaire. II. As a diagnostic instrument. , 1951, Journal of the American Medical Association.

[15]  H. Wolff,et al.  The Cornell medical index; a adjunct to medical interview. , 1949, Journal of the American Medical Association.

[16]  James S. House,et al.  Occupational stress and the mental health and physical health of factory workers , 1980 .

[17]  C. Spielberger,et al.  Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory , 1970 .